This title feeds and calms listeners’ imaginations in the most delightful way.
The book jacket’s depiction of a Leonardo da Vinci–esque creature transporting a child across an emerald sky signals a highly original approach to a pitch for a pet.
Sporting a scarlet bowler hat, the cylindrically shaped girl describes her requirements: cuddly but strong; adept at flying and swimming; capable of shrinking and growing on demand. The dialogue indicates that she is talking with her parents. They may be offstage, but it is also possible that what seems to be the monster/pet on the facing page (and elsewhere) is a dreamy composite of the parents—a provocative ambiguity. Soon after Rikki crawls into bed, a voice invites her to play hide-and-seek. The ensuing nocturnal adventure involves the rhinoceroslike creature’s fulfillment of her wishes. Composed of a patchwork of foil and saturated colors (especially red and green) and replete with a tusk, wings, and stylish shoes, the monster continuously morphs, expanding at the climax to escape a spiky sea ogre. While the textured scenes are mysterious and quirky, and the protagonist is anxious at times, the award-winning, Czech-born collaborators balance tension with joy: “Rikki’s heart beats faster, full of excitement.” Girl and pet have fully bonded by the conclusion, when the child asks the monster to stay “please, and always protect me.”
This title feeds and calms listeners’ imaginations in the most delightful way. (Picture book.4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-988-8240-47-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
A playful, funny, and heartfelt tale to soothe the back-to-school blues.
A young lycanthrope frets about the first night of school.
It’s time for Sophie to head off to howlergarten for her first full moon—but what if she fails to transform into a werewolf like her parents? She worries about being away from her parents, too, but she meets new friends, participates in werewolf training (which entails tracking scents, moving like a wolf, and listening “to the whispers of the wind”), and survives her first full moon. Warm and empathetic Sophie even offers reassurance to a classmate who doesn’t transform. Shum’s story is a sweetly encouraging and appealing take on the perennial topic of first-day-of-school jitters. Though the book features werewolves, Sophie is relatable, her concerns—separation anxiety, fears that she won’t fit in or do well at school—likely to resonate with many youngsters. The illustrations alternate between full- and half-page spreads and vignettes; the use of panels on one page gives the book the feel of comics. Though the main characters are werewolves, they’re nevertheless an endearing bunch, sweet and furry, with oversized round heads and sturdy bodies. One adorable scene shows Sophie and the other children at howlergarten snoozing, curled up like pups rather than kids. Sophie’s mom has dark brown skin, while Sophie and her father are tan-skinned. The howlergarten students are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A playful, funny, and heartfelt tale to soothe the back-to-school blues. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9780593521274
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
A few moments shine, but all in all an overstuffed effort.
What with keeping the fridge stocked with slug mush and sour green milk, incidentals such as mud soap and fang paste seem downright ordinary—unlike the consequences of ignoring the emphatic “Don’t”s populating this unorthodox DIY manual: “massive monster tantrums.”
The six-step bedtime instructions are scrawled on wide-ruled school paper, detailing the biracial bunny-slippered protagonist’s superior strategizing skills. If the detailed formula is rigidly adhered to, the rowdy monster will allow itself to go from a soothing ice bath to bedtime story to screeching lullaby to, finally, sleep. OHora’s signature color palette and tongue-in-cheek retro illustrations with a matte finish bring Vega’s uneven story to uproarious life. The sheep sandwich heading for the cavernous maw looks appropriately terrified, in contrast to the tiny terrier worrying the gigantic, furred monster’s knees. From the parents (a shell-shocked black mom cradles her cringing white husband) to the exuberant grizzly-sized, pom-pom–sporting, rainbow-striped monster, the delightful characters revolve around a no-nonsense, brown-skinned child rocking her own pom-pom ’do. Regrettably, Vega tries too hard to be cute. There is a game of “toss-the-slime-ball,” the information that “monsters hate milk unless it’s sour and green and smells like dirty underwear,” and instructions to “read the freakiest, creepiest, scariest story from your bookshelf—screaming where appropriate”—it’s all just too much.
A few moments shine, but all in all an overstuffed effort. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-49655-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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